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"Stock markets in the Middle East rose on Tuesday with Abu Dhabi gaining the most, buoyed by heavy trade in the shares of a newly merged bank while buying from foreign funds boosted Egypt. Shares of recently merged First Abu Dhabi Bank jumped 4.8 percent in very heavy trade, helping lift Abu Dhabi's index 1.8 percent. Shares of Abu Dhabi National Energy, however, retreated 5.3 percent as investors booked profits after they had soared 24 percent since Sunday."

"The UAE’s purchasing managers index (PMI) — a key indicator of business sentiment — hit a 19-month high of 56.2 during March.
It was 56 in February.
“The latest PMI survey for the UAE points to encouraging growth in the non-oil economy through the first quarter of 2017,” said Tim Fox, Head of Research and Chief Economist at Emirates NBD."

"Russian oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM) hopes to benefit from European court rulings that have allowed some Iranian banks to escape from European Union sanctions.

Russia's largest oil firm has been subject to sanctions since 2014, following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. Chief Executive Igor Sechin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is himself under sanctions.

Sanctions complicate fund-raising for the state-run Rosneft and have prevented western companies from helping it develop deepwater, shale and Arctic oil deposits, including a large venture with Exxon Mobil (XOM.N)."

"Major producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) such as Woodside and Shell are softening up on years of resistance to granting buyers more flexible term contracts, potentially opening the door to a more actively traded market for the commodity.

LNG executives, traders and dealmakers are gathering in Chiba, just outside Tokyo, for an industry conference this week. Top of the agenda has been the increased push from LNG importers wanting more flexibility over what they are allowed to do with supplies they buy under decades-long contracts.

The pressure from buyers culminated in March when the world's biggest importers in Japan, South Korea and China agreed to form a club to focus on forcing producers to drop so-called destination clauses, which prohibit them from selling imported LNG to third parties."

"OPEC isn’t the only decades-old energy hegemony being turned on its head by U.S. shale.

Liquefied natural gas sellers from Qatar to Malaysia that dominated gas sales to Asia for years are facing the prospect of rising American exports. While less than 30 U.S. cargoes have landed in Asia, their effect was felt even before they arrived. LNG trade in 2016 jumped the most in five years, contract lengths were sliced in half in the past decade, and spot prices slumped more than 60 percent in the past three years.

That means the global LNG titans gathering in Tokyo this week for Gastech are in the midst of the biggest shakeup since the industry was founded in the 1960s. Just as American crude is increasingly making its way to Asia, the world’s biggest oil market, the burgeoning armada of gas cargoes from the U.S. and elsewhere are poking holes in the financial system on which the industry’s multi-billion plants are funded."

"Boeing Co. said on Tuesday it has signed a new, $3 billion deal with Iran's Aseman Airlines to supply 30 737 MAX aircraft to the carrier, the first major sale by a U.S. company to the Islamic Republic under new President Donald Trump. The new agreement comes on top of the $16.6 billion sale Boeing previously made in Iran following the landmark nuclear deal struck with Tehran under the Obama administration. Trump long has criticized the atomic deal, though he toured a Boeing plant in February and touted the firm's work as proof of a coming American manufacturing renaissance. Chicago-based Boeing said the deal also includes purchase rights for an additional 30 737 MAX aircraft for Tehran-based Aseman, which flies domestic and international routes. It said the first deliveries would start in 2022."

"The overseas arm of India’s biggest oil and gas explorer intends to spend more than $3 billion on Iran’s Farzad-B natural gas block. ONGC Videsh Ltd. last month submitted a revised plan to the Iranian government for the block, which the company will be able to develop within five years, Managing Director N.K. Verma told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. The Indian oil company is now waiting for feedback from Tehran, Verma said. India has been weighing investments in Iran worth up to $20 billion. In addition to oil and gas exploration, the South Asian nation has considered petrochemical plants, gas-processing facilities and port expansions, including the industrial hub of Chabahar, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said last year during a visit to Tehran."

"Abu Dhabi's state utility tightened its grip on loss-making Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) by boosting its stake to 74 percent, days after it granted land that could potentially wipe out the energy company's losses. It is not the first time cash-rich Abu Dhabi has stepped in to rescue a state-linked company. In 2011, it bailed out struggling developer Aldar Properties. Like some other energy companies, Taqa has been reeling from losses resulting from low commodity prices."

"Prime Minister Theresa May extolled the importance of trade and security ties with Saudi Arabia, brushing aside calls in the U.K. to suspend arms sales to the kingdom. In a visit to Jordan and then the Saudi capital, May is seeking to bolster trade ties with influential players in the Middle East, most notably the House of Saud. Back home, lawmakers have urged her to stop selling weapons pending a probe into Saudi Arabia’s military strikes in Yemen. Britain’s relationships with both countries “are long term and historical,’’ May told reporters on Monday on the plane to Amman. “They’re important for us in terms of security, they’re important for us in terms of defense, and yes in terms of trade. But as I said when I came to the Gulf at the end of last year, Gulf security is our security; Gulf prosperity is our prosperity.”"